


Paragon

by alittlebugsheadx



Category: Riverdale - Fandom, bughead - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 15:49:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15537621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlebugsheadx/pseuds/alittlebugsheadx
Summary: -a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence; someone of exceptional meritBetty Cooper has a 'Sandy' from Grease moment in order to catch the attention of a certain, mysterious boy. Needless to say, she had his attention from the start. Jughead Jones finds the blonde beauty way out of his league, yet she seems somewhat infatuated with him. She teaches him what perfection truly is, as she learns it from him, herself.





	Paragon

-a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence; someone of exceptional merit

She was incredible. She was everything he wanted to be, to have, to love. But to her, much to his lack of awareness, he was her paragon of courage. He showed it when he stood up for he suffereing Southside, not just because they were his family, but because they were human. And they deserved to be treated like humans. Maybe it was due to her mother’s strong, snobby opinions about the North and Southside that pushed her to oppose them, maybe it was just her morals that convinced her, it didn’t matter. Betty Cooper was for a Riverdale with no sides. She didn’t want the tension to continue to build up between them and lead to death and destruction. She wanted the people of Riverdale to live in peace and harmony, as ideal as it was.

And he was key to her mission.

It was also an opportunity for her to get to know the boy she had been obsessing over for way too long. It was about time.

He’d never notice you.

You’re too vanilla.

Then don’t be.

Betty had to catch his attention before she approached him because she knew if she went up to him in her cheerleading outfit, purple sweater of grey coat, he would roll his eyes and ignore whatever came out. Strange because he didn’t want his people to be generalised yet he stereotyped her. She had never actually been in conversation with him, so maybe she was stereotyping him by assuming how he would react. Either way, she had to change something about her. She needed an edge.

And that’s exactly what she did.

It was the Friday morning that shocked the entire school body. Jughead was sitting on his motorbike, talking to a friend, (if that’s what he even called them), well more like an accomplice or a companion. He had turned around to see what everyone was staring at and what caused the loud rev of an engine.

A red mustang.

A blonde chick.

A brunette guy.

Jughead narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out who she was.

The guy opened her door and she got out, causing more jaws to drop. Heels, tight, black leather pants, black crop top sitting on her shoulders, wavy blonde hair, large gold hoop earrings, cherry red lipstick and dark shades.

She was gorgeous.

Jughead swallowed.

“What a ‘Grease’ moment,” he heard one guy say.

She took off her shades and caught eye contact, almost immediately, with Jughead.

Why me? Jughead squirmed under her dark, intense gaze before she revealed herself.

Betty Cooper?

The one girl who he had been obsessing over for as long as he could remember?

Riverdale’s very own, sweetest, most perfect girl-next-door?

That Betty Cooper?

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. He was confused also: why did she change herself when she was so perfect? What’s going on?

She looked away before heading into the school with the guy holding her bag.

Jughead closed his mouth. He could not get over his. Betty Cooper? Really?

***

School was over and Jughead was about to start up his motorbike when a certain blonde caught his eye. She was with her cool friends when she spotted him. She said goodbye and headed towards him. Nervously, he fidgeted with the key. What would she want from him?

His anxiety proved to be pointless as when she got to him. She smiled big and held out her hand, “Hi, I’m Betty-“

“Cooper. Yes, I know who you are.” He shook her hand, trying to ignore the warm feeling it gave him.

She looked a little taken aback, “Oh, you know who I am, Jughead?”

“Yeah, of course. But you know me?” He was even more shocked than the fact she was talking to him.

She laughed lightly, “Well, of course. Anyway, I was wondering if I could ask for a favour?”

What on earth could he have that she would possibly want?

“Uh, I suppose.”

‘I suppose’? What the hell Jughead? You never do favours for anyone? What’s wrong with you?

Somehow she managed to smile even bigger, “Okay, great. So I’m doing an article about how Riverdale needs to come together as one town, rather than let the two sides determine what people can do, where people can live, who people can talk to, etc, and I was wondering if I could interview you for a few points to represent the south side?” Her face did this cute thing where she looked hopeful and widened her eyes with a head tilt. It’s hard to explain.

He swallowed. He keeps forgetting to do that. Before he could think about it the words flew out of his mouth, “Yeah, of course. When?”

Her eyes lit up, “Okay great, thanks! Uh, how does Pops sound tomorrow?”

“Okay, see you at 5?”

“Yes!” She smiled before leaving him, to return to her friends, looking back at him whilst smiling to herself.

Betty couldn’t believe he had actually said yes. She genuinely believed he would say some unpolite words to her that would pierce her heart. But he was sweet.

***

Jughead sat in his booth, waiting for the pretty blonde. He was sincerely scared she was going to stand him up. But it’s Betty? She wouldn’t do that. Or would she? It’s not like he actually knew her.

Just as he was going to accept the humiliation, the girl walked into the diner, messed up hair and eyes wide with curiosity. She caught sight of him and felt her heart flutter when he gave her a sort of smile.

He caught her attention and his heart did a little skip when she smiled at him, and he was so surprised at his involuntary actions that he didn’t realise a smile had creeped up on his face.

“Hey! I hope you weren’t waiting too long, I’m really sorry, Principal Weatherbee was talking to me and I couldn’t get out of it-“

Jughead interjected before she waffled on, to reassure her it was okay. The two began the interview after Betty had got a milkshake that she barely drank, so much so that Jughead was granted permission to drink it. The two got to know one another better, and Betty even made Jughead laughed. He made her laugh plenty, but that was Betty. She was made out of giggles and laughs. Him? Not so much. So that was a huge achievement. One might even view this meeting as date.

The conversation came to a halt when Betty blurted the one thing she couldn’t get out of her mind.

“Why did you agree to this?”

Jughead, a bit taken aback, replied, “I…uh…well, I’m honestly not sure. I wasn’t expecting you to ask me that, let alone talk to me, so maybe just…”

“Why wouldnt I talk to you?” Betty raised an eyebrow.

Jughead blushed, “Well, you know…”

“I really don’t?”

“You’re…you. You’re Betty Cooper. And I’m, well, me.”

Betty swallowed and looked down at her hands gripping the notepad, “Oh. I see.”

Jughead, sending he had somehow insulted her, reached for her hand, immediately feeling the buzz again.

She looked up.

“I don’t mean that rudely. I just…I never thought you would want to speak to someone like me. Simply because you’re so…perfect.”

Her brows furrowed. “I hate being called that,” she said quietly. “No one is perfect. Even if that’s what it seems like.” She pulled her hand back, clearly very insulted.

“Okay, I’m sorry. But can I ask…?”

She nodded.

“Why did you expect me to say no?”

She pursed her lips, clearly thinking. “Well, I thought that you would refuse because…well…I don’t know. I just thought you would roll your eyes and think it’s like pathetic.”

“Oh.” Jughead knew he had a tough exterior, he just never thought Betty Cooper would believe it let alone fear it.

“I wouldn’t roll my eyes at you. Or think it’s pathetic.”

“How come?”

“Well, I know you say you aren’t perfect, okay fine, but you are nice, you must know that, and you…well…I have kind of always respected you and well, noticed you…well ‘noticed’ is a bit of an understatement…I’m not coming off creepy am I?” He waffled, with his brain having no control of what came out.

She laughed, with her lit up eyes, “No, not at all. To be honest, I have felt the same way actually. But I didn’t know you knew who I was.”

“Oh yes,” Jughead was extremely comfortable at this point, “I’m well aware. Always have been. Whilst we’re being so honest, let me tell you…you…you are kind of like…”

“Like what?” Her head did that head tilt thing.

“Like my paragon. My paragon of morality, virtue, contagious happiness. I don’t think I’ve smiled let alone laughed this much in these two hours than I have my entire life. I know that probably sounds very dramatic and I’m probably coming off very strongly and you’re probably totally freaked out-“

“You’re my paragon too. You know, my paragon of morality, principals and the sort.”

He smiled and he nearly, almost felt his own eyes lit up.

They did.

He had never been called anyone’s ‘my’ before. He had never been anything like that to anyone. She had. She had been a girlfriend, a sister, a daughter. He had been a leader, but it wasn’t the same: earning the respect of family is different to always being respected by the person they felt the same way towards. Reciprocation. Another unknown feeling to the both of them. They finally felt like they had someone on their wavelength. Someone who respected them for who they were and, not to their knowledge at the time, loved them for it. The couple talked for hours that night, and Betty completely forgot that she had a curfew. But walking back with the black-haired boy at midnight, under the glowing moon, was worth the telling-off. They arrived at her house, standing on the sidewalk, when Betty turned to him.

“Thanks for walking me home,” she whispered.

“Not a problem.” He had known the bike would make noise and plus he wanted to spend as long as possible with her before everything resumed to normal tommorow.

The two were breathing in sync, just looking at each other, trying to figure out what their eyes were saying. Jughead couldn’t figure her out but he knew what he wanted. So he pressed his lips to hers, with all the passion he could muster. He had never kissed a girl before but if it was anything like this he would be doing it a lot more often. She immediately kissed back, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he around her waist, pulling her into him. The couple completely forgot about everything else in the world as they really didn’t care. All they wanted was to keep this buzz they felt alive. When they pulled away slowly, they rested their foreheads against each other, catching their breaths and smiled.

They were each other’s paragon of everything good.

When your admirer adores you for everything you adore about them, then that’s love.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my tumblr @alittlebugsheadx :)


End file.
